As is well known, the transfer feed press is a machine having a plurality of successive work stations wherein workpieces are pressed to form a variety of products. The transfer feed press generally comprises one or two transfer feed rails for transporting workpieces through the successive stations as well as into and out of the machine. These transfer feed rails are reciprocated longitudinally, transversely, and vertically in order to achieve the transport of the workpieces.
In order to change the die in a transfer feed press, the die-carrying bolster must be able to exit transversely from the press. Since the transfer feed rails extend along the sides of the die, they too must be transversely removable from the press. Therefore, the transfer feed rails must be divisible at joints so that central segments thereof can be removed transversely between the support columns of the press.
Previously used transfer feed presses have utilized connecting bolts between the feed rail segments such that the rails can only be split manually. Depending on the number of bolts connecting the rail segments, the process of manually disconnecting the rails, changing the die, and reconnecting the rails can require as much as 45-60 minutes, which is a long period of press inactivity.
Other previously used transfer feed presses, such as that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,503,969 to Baba, are provided with a plurality of motorized mechanisms for longitudinally moving the terminal segments of the transfer feed rails away from the central segments thereof so that the central segments can be transversely removed from the press. This construction is unsatisfactory in that providing a plurality of motorized mechanisms for moving the rail segments is very expensive.